Semyon Varlamov proves his worth in shutout victory over Chicago Blackhawks
By Andrew Dill
Semyon Varlamov was lights out Tuesday night in Chicago, helping the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 shutout victory. Lets just take a moment to forget the record the Colorado Avalanche possess at this point, and reflect on just how good their goalie play has been. Though Colorado hasn’t been relatively healthy this season minus their top-six forwards, Varlamov has missed an abundant of games due to a groin injury.
That same groin injury didn’t seem to alter his play last night on the road in Chicago. With the amount of shots Varlamov faces per game, it’s unbelievable how he doesn’t get recognized for his play. Usually a goalie faces somewhere around the neighborhood of 20-30 shots per game on average, but Varlamov stopped a grand total of 54 saves Tuesday night.
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Not to mention, it was a shutout victory for Varlamov who helped Colorado move back to .500 on the season with a record of 16-16-8, 40 points. When Varlamov is on top of his game, he is undoubtedly a top-five goaltender in the NHL, possibly even top three. One thing I’d like to see is Colorado putting a solid defense in-front of Varly, something Colorado has been missing for quite some time. Just imagine how much better Varlamov’s stats and the team record would be.
Varlamov’s record isn’t indicative on how well he has played this season. As of right now, Varly is 8-8-5 with a 2.79 GAA. The goals against average is a tad-bit high, but it isn’t a problem on Varlamov’s end – it’s the defense. Varly’s save percentage sits at .918%, which is .001% above his career average.
Colorado has also had the luxury of back-up goaltender Calvin Pickard coming in and spelling Varlamov with his injury. Pickard is currently second in the entire league with a save percentage of .934%, just .002% behind Winnipeg’s goaltender Michael Hutchinson for first. Pickard has done nothing but impress head coach Patrick Roy and the entire Avalanche fan base. The rookie is currently 6-6-2 in 14 games played, sporting a goals against average of 2.21.
Despite the incredible play from Pickard, let’s all take a moment and realize that Varlamov is still the number one guy in Colorado and deservedly so – not that there was any goalie controversy to start with. Avs’ fans like myself are spoiled to watch Varlamov night in and night out, making ridiculous save after ridiculous save.
The Avalanche are back in action Thursday night at home, hosting the Ottawa Senators. Puck-drop from the Pepsi Center is scheduled for 9:00 PM EST, 7:00 PM MST.